987 Krystal Popov:

Wings of Inspired Business Podcast EP987 – Host Melinda Wittstock Interviews Krystal Popov

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Krystal Popov:

It’s the kids that are disconnected and they’re learning how to regurgitate stuff in school. The school system is set up to create a career. But we know that they don’t need that when they graduate. The times are changing. AI is going to take over mundane jobs, you know, a good skill of bookkeeping, even a lawyer that went to school for law school there’s going to be an AI lawyer that pulls enough data that’s better than you, right? That’s true of engineering too. 

Melinda Wittstock:

The world is changing faster than most people can adapt. Job security was already a relic of the past even before the advent of AI and our education system is not preparing kids for this uncertain future where entrepreneurial skills are now vital. Krystal Popov has made it her mission to “Futurepreneur” kids – teaching them the creativity, nimbleness and grit they will need to navigate a new world order.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m your host Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. As a five-time serial entrepreneur who has navigated all the ups and downs for women innovators, I started this podcast to catalyze an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other. Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together and lift as we climb.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today a topic close to my heart – helping our youth develop the entrepreneurial skills they will surely need to survive and prosper, speaking as a mom who is now helping her 19-year-old son build his first business. Finn is using and innovating with AI to bring people closer together for in-real-life community belonging with his platform for dog owners called TailsTrails. So what a pleasure to talk with Krystal Popov, the founder of FuturePreneur. Krystal is on a mission is to empower the next generation with entrepreneurial skills and confidence. Krystal shares her journey from an unfulfilled engineer in the corporate world to building multiple successful businesses—including Tucson’s largest coworking space—and ultimately finding her true calling: teaching kids how to start, build, and thrive in their own businesses.

Melinda Wittstock:

You’ll hear how Krystal’s own experiences as a mom and a business owner inspired the creation of FuturePreneur’s “business-in-a-box,” a hands-on toolkit designed to fill the critical gap left by traditional education. We talk about why skills like innovation, problem solving, and sales have never been more vital for young people, especially in an age where AI is rapidly reshaping the world of work.

Melinda Wittstock:

Krystal and I get real about the challenges—and the joys—of raising entrepreneurial kids, the importance of real-world experience versus academic credentials, and why fostering creativity, confidence, and grit is the best investment you can make in your child’s future. Plus, you’ll hear practical tips for parents and educators, inspiring stories from young entrepreneurs, and how you can access free resources like the lemonade stand business blueprint.

Melinda Wittstock:

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Krystal Popov.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Krystal, welcome to Wings.

Krystal Popov:

Melinda, thanks so much for having me on. I’m really excited to be here with you.

Melinda Wittstock:

You know, I love what you’re doing, helping kids really become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial. Because, gosh, you know, in our world, the way it’s changing so fast with AI and everything, I mean, kids really need to be equipped with these skills. Whether or not they’re going to go create billion-dollar business, it doesn’t really matter. But there’s just something about being an entrepreneur, right?

Krystal Popov:

A hundred percent mindset.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, what made you want to do this?

Krystal Popov:

Yeah, well, I’m a mom of three. My oldest is 10, my youngest is 5. And entrepreneurship really changed my life. I graduated with an engineering degree and went straight into the corporate world. I did this, you know, know the, the whole thing you’re supposed to do. Go to school, get grades, study hard, interview, select the job with the highest salary. I mean, I did it move right? And I found myself like six years into that career and really miserable.

Krystal Popov:

I was spending most of my time at work. It was a, it was a high-pressure job. I was a software developer. We had deadlines and I’m like; I can’t do this forever. And I definitely can’t do this with kids. Right. So, I knew I needed to find something. I went out with freelance software development.

Krystal Popov:

I tried network marketing. I mean, I tried it all like, where can I make it? And then eventually kind of found my niche. I’m in commercial real estate in my other career. Right. Um, and have a large coworking executive office suites spaces. I have the largest one in Tucson, Arizona. A retail space that, that I rent out and have created really a life that I love that doesn’t require me to be here. It lets me travel, it lets me pick up my kids from school, it lets me volunteer in the classroom.

Krystal Popov:

And that’s what I want. And entrepreneurship did that for me. But it took me a little while to get the courage to do it. And you know, once you have security in income and in your career, then it turns into what’s my passion project, what’s my what, what I want my legacy to be. And I’m like, I want to teach entrepreneurship to kids. I want them knowing coming out of high school that they have the skills and they have the confidence and to go rocket and, and that’s where Futurepreneur was born.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s amazing because it’s something that our school system really lacks. I mean it was designed for the economy and the structure that we had, but that no longer exists. And the school system hasn’t really caught up. Like whether you’re thinking about how to teach kids about something like passive income or how to build wealth nonexistent, right? Skills that allow them, like you said, the confidence to actually just set their own course, like create their own destiny. It’s just not anywhere in the school system.

Krystal Popov:

It’s not. I mean there are some charter schools and some private schools that are making the push into that which is incredible. But here’s the gap, right? So, we have incredible teachers out there and praise them because I don’t think I could do it. But they’re out there. But none of them have built a business. They’re a teacher they work for, for someone else. And so how are they even at the, you know, college level, at the universities? These people are all W2 stable employees. And so how are they supposed to teach entrepreneurship or feel confident about teaching entrepreneurship? We have this little bit of a gap.

Krystal Popov:

The other thing is, you know, when I was building Futurepreneur minds, I mean my kids, my, my mom is an entrepreneur, so I was lucky enough to, to watch her grow a construction company when I was growing up. And I look at my kids and I’m like, well at least they can see what, what I do right? And what we’ve done. But there’s so many kids out there that their parents don’t know how to run a business. So, when I was being very intentional about building Futurepreneur, I’m like, how do I reach those amazing kids that don’t have anyone to learn from? And we created a business in a box and, and we did it. We’d like to get it into schools. Um, we’re creating right now a teacher’s unit on how to, an, an eight week or eight-unit course. And we’re teaching the teachers how to teach it with games, with worksheets, with, with things like that. So yeah, we’d like to get it into schools.

Krystal Popov:

Every kid should be able to start a mini business and we’re targeting middle, middle school, high grammar school and middle school. And that’s, we can talk all about AI and Social media and why I’m targeting that, that age range. But this is when it starts, this is when their curiosity and their creativity is still high before the world’s kind of beat it out of them.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Krystal Popov:

This is a time you’ve got to really look, I would say between the ages of 8 and 12, maybe you got till 14, but once they’re 14 these days, I mean their influences are elsewhere. Their friends, their social media, their YouTube channels, whatever, which you know, we’re not a big social, we’re not a big screen time family. But most kids are, they’re already gone. They’re no longer learning around the dinner table. And so, there’s about four or five years there and that’s the age that we target where we want parents to say take that time and build some business with their kids.

Krystal Popov:

And hey, we’re going to walk you through it. So that’s our goal.

Melinda Wittstock:

So exciting. So, you said that you want to get into schools. How is it working right now with your business in a box?

Krystal Popov:

Yeah. So right now, it’s direct to consumer and I would say honestly 90% of our customers are homeschoolers. These are people looking to fill their kids day and they’re already spending that time with their kids and I love that. Right, right. And it’s a growing market and it’s great for business and a lot. And many states have funding from the government to buy our tools. So, if you’re in a state that has the scholarship funds, you can buy our businesses, curricula, business in a boxes for your kids with state funds. It’s a big market and I’m, I’m grateful for that market. To sustain our business and our growth. But it’s not the market that I really want to figure out how to reach because those kids being homeschooled are typically learning some of these anyway. It’s the kids that are disconnected and they’re learning how to regurgitate stuff in school. Like you said, the school system is set up to create a career. Oh, but, but, but we know that they don’t need that when they graduate.

Krystal Popov:

The times are changing. If you have a 10-year-old in 18 years, your 10-year-old better stand out. There’s. Yeah, AI is going to take over mundane jobs, you know, a good skill of bookkeeping, even a lawyer that went to school for law school there’s going to be an AI lawyer that pulls enough data that’s better than you, right? So, what that’s true of engineering too? Like speaking engineering too. There’s no longer stem. 

Melinda Wittstock:

So, speaking of kids building businesses. I have a 19-year-old who’s busy building his business and you know, he’s become an expert in Claude Code. Like he can just create an app. It’s amazing, incredible.

Krystal Popov:

So, and we, we AI is coming whether we like it or not. I always tell people also with like social media and cell phones, like it’s here, right? So how do we accept it and how do we use it for the next generation? So, AI is out there. But now what your son probably has, hopefully he has, if he’s doing successful, is he’s going inside himself saying how do I create something new that I use this tool? Right? So that’s that innovation, creativity piece that often gets beat out of kids because they’re just supposed to regurgitate or they’re supposed to follow the rules or they’re right. And so, and I’ll give you an example, I have a niece that graduated high school and she, I, I, she was on vacation with us and I said okay, we need to figure out what, when we need to leave. And I have babies at this time, this a few years ago and I’m like, you know, nursing one of them and I’m like, can we go figure? I mean she didn’t know at 18 years old how to go down and figure out when the next tram is and where we catch the boat. I mean little things like navigating life. And that’s what we’re seeing right now, graduating. And so, your son that’s going out saying, hey, I’m going to use this tool and I’m going to build something that I can sell.

Krystal Popov:

Kids nowadays, they need to be innovative, they need to have confidence and trusting in their ability and then they need to sell themselves that communication piece.

Melinda Wittstock:

That is what’s really missing. Because generation, they don’t know how to have conversations with people or they’re afraid, afraid of looking too pushy or they see all this horrible behavior on social media, and they don’t want to come across that way. So, it makes it very difficult. People already struggle with sales. Even people who are really like have all the right stuff as entrepreneurs still struggle with sales, right? So, if you take a kid who’s grown up in that thing where they’re, they’re afraid, like they like a Boy doesn’t know how to ask a girl on a date.

Krystal Popov:

I know, right?

Melinda Wittstock:

That is really missing. I’m very concerned for that whole generation just because of the way social media has impacted them and gaming culture and all these things.

Krystal Popov:

Yeah, they can sit in their house for five hours at a time and just feel like they fill that five hours. We, I couldn’t do that. I mean, I’m in my, I’m mid-40s. Right. So, we didn’t have social media. If I sat out five hours at home, I’m bored out of my mind. Like, I’m like, I got to get out of the house and see people. But they feel like they’re communicating and connected.

Krystal Popov:

Five hours on their couch, scrolling through a phone, watching videos. So how do we change this? Right? We know this is an issue. So how do we change this? But I’ll tell you, and this is why I’m so passionate about that middle school age and even upper grammar school is you go get a nine-year-old and you go tell them they can make $200 by doing XYZ and they can buy their hoverboard or their next video game, whatever they want. Is my oldest, Liviana, and she designed, we have one at one. She’s, they’re my beta testers by the way. They test all our kits. But we have a design and sell your own T shirt brand.

[PROMO CREDIT]

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Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Krystal Popov, CEO and founder of Futurepreneur. 

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Krystal Popov:

And she created, using tools, using Canva, using AI. She created these cute, this cute summertime T shirt with like a fox and an ice cream cone. And she was so passionate about selling this because she saw the return and she walked up and we’re in the store, she’s buying something and she’s wearing her shirt. And one of the girl, the gal behind the counter said, oh, I like your shirt. And she said, mommy, send her my store link. She said, I’m selling these shirts, would you want one? I’m also selling tote bags with this design on it. And she was like; I would love one. Mommy, Mommy, get her phone number.

Krystal Popov:

Right? She’s not scared. And so, start fostering this at a young age. And then they won’t, they won’t turn away from it. Right. So, they’re not scared at a young age. They’re not, they’re not fearful at that point. So that’s when you grab them and you say, we’re going to try some crazy things. Some may work, some may not, but we’re going to go out and try a couple businesses.

Krystal Popov:

Let’s see what you like. So, we’ve just got to focus on that.

Melinda Wittstock:

You know, it’s, it’s so true. It’s funny you mentioned, I mean obviously your kids have watched you build all these businesses that you’ve built. So, they were already in your venture studio whether they knew it or not, and absorbing things. And that’s been true of my kids as well, who are older than yours. And I’ve always included them, you know, as much as possible because I’ve just, as an entrepreneur myself who had entrepreneurial parents myself, this is sort of gets passed along kind of naturally in a way like, because your kids will have seen you navigate all kinds of challenges like ups and downs and all the swings and roundabouts and they will have seen you deal with it, right. And without being friendly, they know that you can. So, there’s sort of like a passed-on confidence that way. But for kids in an environment where their parents are.

Melinda Wittstock:

Not that they’re in this structured thing where they, they don’t have that sense of control and maybe things feel a lot more stable than they do in an entrepreneurial family.

Krystal Popov:

If you have had those ups and downs, right, they feel more stable, but they, they, there’s no way that they’re prepared for the rapid transformation of the world right now.

Melinda Wittstock:

I want to talk about AI with you a little bit too. I was at my AI meetup the other night and the, you know, one of the speakers was talking about how you can use Claude and all these different things. Claude Cowork for instance: You can feed it all the stuff about yourself, like your whole history and your values and your thoughts, thoughts and all your previous work and all the things that you’ve done so the AI can get to know you. And a person in the audience asked a great question. Well, what does that mean for like an 18-year-old that doesn’t have any real-life experience yet barely even knows themselves? What do they feed into the AI? How do they avoid, how do they make the AI work for them when they don’t have that life experience? And I’m curious how you think about that because people could end up working for the AI rather than the other way around.

Krystal Popov:

Yes, yes. Well, I know you teach a lot about like intention, intentionality. When we, I did a homeschool co-op last year, an eight week homeschool cohort. Well, I met with this cohort with about 50 kids in it every Wednesday. And we start everything with let’s, let’s visualize your business, right? So, what is your intention of this business? Is it raising money? Is it selling something that you’re really proud of? Like at the end of this, you know, section of your life, or you know, at the end of this business, what, what do you want? Right? And I feel like we could teach these 18-year-olds the same thing. It’s like, let’s take life section to section. I remember, you know, being 18 and people would ask me, like, what do you, where do you want to be in 10 years? Like, I don’t think any of us know where we want to be in 10 years. Like, I sure didn’t.

Krystal Popov:

So I feel like when we can use AI and if we’re gonna really use AI, like people are using it these days, like these, these young guys are using it these days. I feel like you need to take some time on getting intentional about what’s the next year look like, right? So, you’ve got this AI tool. What’s your goal? Do you want to invent something that’s not out there yet? Do you want to figure out how money works in life and how people are, you know, how to go from an employee to an investor? You know, what are the steps? And you can get a lot of data through these AI tools and if we can teach them how to use that. But, but it all starts with the intention and the vision of the next year and the next five years. And when you’re 18, five years is just way too far. So, you could even start with six months to a year. But that’s how I would use the AI tool is what is, what is the next year? What do I want to create? What are my skills? So, you input your skills, you input your personality type. You know, I, I, I love sitting in front of the computer and creating, but I don’t like sales.

Krystal Popov:

You know, like whatever, whatever that person’s personality type, you input that in and you get a bunch of ideas back. And we did a, there was a homeschool convention recently and we did it, we did a talk on this, on using, we at the time it was ChatGPT, but we said using ChatGPT for finding out what business your kid would want to start. We were talking to parents, and it says, you know, here’s a good personality type test. Here’s, you know, five of their interests. Here’s where I see them struggle, here’s where I see them excel, take that information. And we basically gave them a statement with blanks in it that they could fill in, like fill in the blank for their kid. Put it into AI and ask it what business? You know, my kid has five hours a week. They’ve got these personality types.

Krystal Popov:

Here’s their interests. What business it could they build that would become profitable within the next six weeks? Give me some ideas. So, I would give the 18-year-olds, the 20-year-olds that are graduating the same piece of advice is get really clear about what you want in the next year and then use AI as your, your sounding block. Right. Use it as your brainstorming tool and, and then find something and as soon as it spits back, like you could start a, you know, landscaping business because you love, you know, working by yourself or whatever it is. Right. And once they get that, they’ll know where they should run. Like intuitively.

Krystal Popov:

It’ll spit out some ideas and then one will just grab your attention. And then you got to have some grit and persistence. You got to follow it through and see where it goes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. Because businesses at the end of the day are solving problems like learning how to spot gaps in the market. So, I’ve noticed AI can be very good for that. Where you say, hey, like, like literally in. If you’re good at the prompting, what are the gaps in this particular market? Like, I re. Yeah, you mentioned like the landscaping. Like, what are some things that aren’t being done? What are all the competitors doing? Like, what are the, what are the people saying about those competitor businesses? I mean, like, you can spin up this research so fast, you can figure out who your avatars are. You can figure out there’s so many things.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, the toolkit is there like never before. Like all the resources are there to be able to help people do that. And becoming fluent in all those things is, is critical. So, tell me about some of the kids and teens that you’ve worked with and what their journeys have been like. Like from working with you to the types of businesses and things that they’re, they’re actually doing in the real world.

Krystal Popov:

Yeah, it’s funny, you know, I mean, again, we’re working, we’re working at kind of a young age. But here’s the, and we’ve, we. I don’t know if you know this, but we’ve only been open for about a year, a year and a half now. So, we just started shipping last year in 2025. So We’re fairly new. But we’ve gotten so much great feedback on. You know, I never knew my kid liked this. And here’s what they did.

Krystal Popov:

And the kits that we started are very age appropriate. So, we’re like open your own bakery. And they all teach different skills. So, like open your own bakery. We teach them the power of pre order, right? So, you don’t have waste wasted inventory. You know, what is your packaging need to look like? We, you know, we bring, bring that into like helping them think forward. And we’ve seen kids come back saying, you know, my, my kid made $320 in this, my kid made $500 in this, or my kid did a market and had so much inventory, we lost $200 as a family, you know, and so we’ve taken that feedback and been like, okay, how do we put these into our curricula, our business plan plans for kids, how do we take that to make sure it’s successful? Now do we care that they make a ton of money? Not really. But is it a really cool thing for a parent to reach back saying, man, my kids never had his own money and he’s nine years old and he’s just so proud of the, you know, bike that he just bought or, or something like that.

Krystal Popov:

Um, so we, we take all that into consideration. But I think it’s, it, I think the, the biggest thing that we’ve seen is that parents are surprised on what their kid is attracted to. Like some kids, you know, like a kid on the spectrum thinking, you know, he’s not going to be very good at sales. Turns out he’s the best salesperson in their family. Right? So, you just have to give them that experience that where they step up and you’ll see what they like. You’ll see where they, where they shine and where maybe they shy away from and then, you know, how to plan their, their track ahead. We did an event in, in February, this so impactful called Futurepreneur Live, where we brought in speakers in different areas. We had a holistic health professional.

Krystal Popov:

We had an Olympic swimmer that started a swim school. He’s a six, six-time medalist. We had an author, New York Times bestselling author. I mean, it’s really, you know, started a fundraising company for charter schools and just, just exploded his business. We brought these in and we only did 15-minute talks right from these. And we watched the parents in this room with these kids and the kids asking these incredible questions and standing up and getting on a microphone. Their parents are shining in the audience saying, I’d never seen him on a microphone before. And I’m like, this, this is where we have to push our kids.

Krystal Popov:

You gotta get them out of their comfort zone. So, the feedback we’ve gotten is, oh, My gosh. We never knew that they would shine in this area. And here’s where they shine. Um, and each, for each of our kits bring out something different. So, so like bakery. These are people that really love to create things. We have the T shirt design like I mentioned, and we have a dog walking.

Krystal Popov:

Start your own dog walking company. We talk about scheduling out and scheduling ahead. We give them a schedule; we give them an agreement. Talk to them a lot in that business about being your word and that you will, your business will grow tenfold if you are your word and you show up. We talk about competitive advantage. So, what can you do that makes your, that makes you stand out over others? We have a builder that’s, we go into trades on that one where it’s like build either a birdhouse or a doghouse and then sell it. We talk about pricing. A lot of budget ahead of time.

Krystal Popov:

You know, if it takes you $80 to build the doghouse, but you can only sell it for 60, we’re at a loss here. So, what can we do? It’s just these skills that just get them thinking at this age. But the parents have been really, really, really great to work with as we’ve been getting feedback this last year. And we’ve fine-tuned it so much that we feel like we’re pretty perfect right now with the ones we’ve got. So.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, that’s amazing. So, what does it take to expand it into schools? That’s tricky because you got to work with so many long sales process. You got a lot of bureaucracy I guess you got to deal with. So how, how do you do that?

Krystal Popov:

Yeah, this is, this is a, we’re in the middle of this right now. So, we are starting with this teacher’s guide. But we think our biggest audience initially are these homeschool co-ops or these hybrid schools that are happening all over the country where, where kids are in school for two days a week and then home for the other two. Um, so we’re, we’re going to start there. We’re going to start selling these co-ops. I mean we have like a charades game in there where they act out of business and then you have to define whether it’s a service-based business or a product-based business. But we teach them these through games and then by the end of the cohort they all will have their own business launched as well. 

Krystal Popov:

But our goal is to do homeschool co-ops first and gather data for probably the next year before we start to approach because we’re going to take a lot of really great data. You know the unfortunate thing about shipping our businesses in a box is a lot of times we don’t even hear back from the parent. Right. Or they’ll give you a five-star review, but they won’t tell you why. So really trying to track the parents down, getting feedback. We only get feedback for probably like 8, 6 to 8% of the boxes we ship out. And we have lots of people that will reorder but then they never reviewed us. And so, we’re like, we know you liked us, so why did you like us? Or maybe they didn’t reorder and we’re like, why didn’t you reorder? So, we want, we want all that feedback and, but getting into schools is a little bit tricky because you have to have it really a track record.

Krystal Popov:

So, we can show this in the co-op, but we can show some like real outputs. And it’s not just about the kids making money. Although I think that’s important. I think it’s important to know that you need to succeed when you start a business. But it’s also the public speaking, the getting out of your house. If we can. We’re trying to document a little bit more on the co-ops and so once we have that data and that package of where they were before and where they’re at the end, once we have that, I think we’re going to have a really good package to now start going to those schools.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. Because they’re very real skills apart from making money, that you learn as an entrepreneur, like how to tell your story, how to share your mission, how to evangelize the vision of the business. You know, how to, you know, just be curious and ask questions, how to be able to take feedback. Like we talk on this podcast all the time, that failure is an inevitable but important part of entrepreneurship because it’s feedback. So how to take that without taking it personally and all these sorts of skills.

Krystal Popov:

Yeah. So, each of our businesses go through that really the process of idea and design and then financial planning, then the actual business building which is very different for a product-based business. Product based business is very hands on, service-based businesses. A little bit more about presentation, telling your story and then marketing and sales. And we do promo videos in some of ours where we teach them how to really create a pitch and they record themselves and that’s how they sell the product that they had made in that business. And just the concept of more people, more people, more eyes on the business, more sales, which is real and will stand real the test of time. So, you gotta go do it.

Krystal Popov:

I was in a, I, I’m in a group called Commercial Real Estate Women. And we had three women that are all presidents of their company with big either project, product or management companies, commercial real estate management companies or their buyer buyers, deal makers. But these three women were up on stage and one of them who’s just been in the market for so long, she goes, I just can’t find people with the grit right now. So, if you have grit, you are going to stand out, you are going to make it to the top if you want to be successful. Grit is a number one skill. And she was talking about when she went in, she wouldn’t go home when she was young without making 30 calls every single day. And she remembers like at some days she’s like, oh Well I made 20. And then she’s like, nope.

Krystal Popov:

So, she would stop by a strip mall on the way home and go knock on 10 doors and say, hey, when’s your lease up? You know, do you like this area of town? And just drop a business card and that grit. She said, I, I’ve got people that I’m training today. And I’m like, just make three calls a day. Just go make three calls a day consistently. And they were like, well, we think cold calling is dead. She’s like, where are you going to find your clients? It is still about how many eyes are on your business each day. And those skills are going to stand the test of time whether we have AI or whether we don’t have AI. And these are the skills that we want to get into our kids, so they become more successful.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s interesting just even at the, at the college level, like I’ll use my son as an example. So, he’s a second-year business student at University of British Columbia. It has a whole entrepreneurship program. But like, you’re right, like very few of only the guest lecturers are actually entrepreneurs.

Krystal Popov:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And so, you know, he’s like building his business and the interesting thing is the, the feedback that he gets from friends because so many of his friends are in business or computer science and they’re all on that track. He is like a total outlier. So, having the people around them, like the group around. Because entrepreneurship can be quite lonely if you don’t have your kind of mentor group or you don’t have other people, like kind of like non civilians who actually understand what it’s like truly to be an entrepreneur. And so how much of it is about socializing in that sense, like kids being around other kids that get them and accept like or are encouraging to their entrepreneurship.

Melinda Wittstock:

Because that’s tricky. Like, Finn’s getting all his encouragement from adults, not from his peer group.

Krystal Popov:

So, it can be very lonely at that age when you’re stepping out into entrepreneurship, and all of your friends are at the bars on the weekend, and you have a goal you want to meet.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly.

Krystal Popov:

You know, Yeah. I mean, I’m watching this with nieces and nephews right now. I had kids a little later than my family members and I wish that I had them a decade ago that I could be in their ear a decade ago. Because it’s very tough to not have your kids influenced by their surroundings. 

Krystal Popov:

We’re on our third school because of this and some of it was just the way the school is, but the most of it was the community at that school. And I felt like if my kids are friends with these kids forever and these kids just didn’t know better. But I’m. I’m like meeting the parents of your kids. And this may sound super judgy, but the parents of your kids friends are influencing your kids friends and so really dive into that and be like, where are they? What is an area they’re growing up? Who are their friends? And we would just pull schools. So, we were in a public school initially and I was like, this can’t work. Like the influence, the things that the parents were fighting over, I mean, this is right after Covid. 

Krystal Popov:

There’s a big political separation in what parents are teaching their kids. And there’s some hate coming into the school. And I’m like, we’re out of here. And so, we have one in a Montessori and two in a private school. And they’re sheltered. And I don’t know what’s gonna happen when we hit high school, I’ll be honest with you. But they don’t. We get together with some friends of ours who have kids at the same age and what comes out of their mouth at fourth grade and what.

Krystal Popov:

You know, my kids are so naive to some stuff and so I’m really careful of where my kids are. And I think this has to. When they get older, you really do have to teach them to pick friends that are, you know, giving to the community rather than taking from the environment. And that’s a very hard skill to teach. But you just have to talk about it. Just keep talking. I did conversation with my, one of my daughters, she’s kind of, she’s not lying, but she’s not telling me the whole truth all the time. And I’m like.

Krystal Popov:

So, I’m questioning her recently and she’s like, mommy, why do you keep questioning me? It’s like you’re, I’m not. Like you’re not trusting me right now. This is coming from a 10-year-old. I said, honey, because we’ve had a few instances that I feel like you’re not telling me the whole truth. So, here’s what we’re going to do going forward. So, if you feel like you tell me something and a half an hour later or an hour, I’m not going to, I’m going to try not to question you, okay? But a half an hour later or an hour later, if you feel like you didn’t quite tell me the whole truth, or maybe you did, you did tell a fib, right? If you come to me and say, mama, I didn’t tell you the whole truth, right then I said, I’m gonna trust you over and over and over again. But you have to come to me after you reflect. Because she gets defensive really quick is when I know she’s lying, no, mommy, I didn’t do that.

Krystal Popov:

I promise, you know, and so we’re starting to teach this. Like I’m giving her a way out, which isn’t a punishment right away. So, it’s another window for her to come tell me. And then if this doesn’t work, I mean, starting to work. But if this doesn’t work, then we try something else. Because your kids have to, your kids have to understand the. You can’t just take away their cell phone, right? Then they’re going to rebel. So, they’ve got to understand.

Krystal Popov:

I even talked to her about when you lie or you tell a fib, the vibration in your body, there’s something that changes that other people are going to know and they’re not going to want to hang out with you. And then I’m going to not trust you in the future because you have this, this kind of like this aura about you, right? And we all know that. We all know when we talk to Someone that’s, that we can trust or we can’t. So, it’s teaching those little things to your kids that they’re going to come around and, and at least reflect on it as they get older. But guarding who your kids friends are. Your son, even though he doesn’t have his peer support, he can go to people that are successful and realize he’s on the same path. Right. So, it’s okay to stand out, it’s okay to be different, but you’ve gotta, you’ve gotta look forward.

Krystal Popov:

So, it’s just conversations. 

Melinda Wittstock:

He’s got a lot of friends in computer science and they’re kind of like, oh, you’re not a coder yourself. Meanwhile, he’s spinning up a very, very impressive AI that connects dog owners to each other in neighborhoods around the country, which is, and with this like really amazing interactive app and all these things connecting people in real life for genuine experiences. It’s impressive because it’s not just like, I’m gonna build something just to build it, but it’s really thought out in terms of solving a real people for like a really big market for people who actively say they need this. 

Krystal Popov:

So, and now, now he’s going to learn marketing, right?

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh my God, yes.

Krystal Popov:

He’s development phase and then he’s filler marketing, which you and I both know, we’re both sitting here on podcast is a whole different animal.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah.

Krystal Popov:

Yep.

Melinda Wittstock:

He’s deep in all the gamification logic and like who his local partners are going to be and how all that…

Krystal Popov:

…programmers are going to be out. I mean, that’s what I was, I was a software developer for my first six years of my life. And yeah, now I go on Lovable. You know, now having that foundation’s okay, but I can’t keep up like with how quickly they code stuff. I mean, the, it’s amazing, you know, it’s amazing.

Melinda Wittstock:

Now like, I think of the, the five businesses that I’ve built and they’re all like media tech apps and such. And like how I would build it now say as opposed to like 2021, 2022. Like it’s changing so fast past, but now when you put into Claude Code. So hey, this is the functionality, these are the non-negotiables, these are our avatars, this is the business model, this is what we’re doing. Like what’s the best stack and why now test your assumptions. And you know, all this, I mean it’s incredible and, and to, to the point where you can literally just tell it what you want it to do and why and it will just create the code. Like, and even, even the QA testing was kind of security was an issue, but now there’s a whole, there are all these modules for that as well.

Krystal Popov:

It’s incredible. I know. And it’s going so fast, right?

Melinda Wittstock:

And then with all the agents. So, like set up an agent that’s just going to monitor everybody talking about dogs on Reddit and like what are their big problems? And give me some ways in which I should respond. I mean like, it’s insane. So, there are going to be businesses that are billion-dollar businesses by a couple of people. Like EBITDA is going to be 90. Like, it’s just insane.

Krystal Popov:

It’s insane. Here’s the other thing that’s going to happen. You don’t need employees, right? So, this is what I mean when people come to me and they’re like, well, Krystal, you know, what would you want your kids to do in college? You know, you’re all about entrepreneurship and there are, there are some great entrepreneurs at University of Arizona. There’s a McGuire center for entrepreneurship and that they, they pair with any major, so even an art major. But they want to know how to start a business using their art passion. The McGuire center for Entrepreneurship will, will take them and teach them those skills. But this is what we need. So, your son, it’s a great example.

Krystal Popov:

Your son, it’s not a skill that he’s learning in school.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh no.

Krystal Popov:

Skills that he’s learning? Yeah, the skills that he’s learning are seeing the need, right? Creating the idea, creating. So, my kids, if I’m gonna pay for their college, it better be a degree where they’re seeing something and creating on their own. It is not going to be something where they’re reading from a text. It’s not going to be. I mean it. I am not. My husband graduated with a humanities degree, and he designs himself swimming pools for a living. Right. And I’m like, your, your parents just spent out of state tuition for that, right? What was that? You know. And so, are my kids going to go to college? Well, sure, I will pay for college if you’re in a creation degree. If you’re in a degree that teaches you how to create and you have an outcome. Okay. Anything else? No. So if you want to be an architect, I’m okay with that.

Krystal Popov:

I want you to see something, I want you to visualize it, I want you to design it and you have an outcome. But I don’t think I would do, I don’t think I’d pay for a law degree even because that’s learning and regurgitating. Right. I mean there’s a lot of problem solving in laws and I’m sure there’s going to be some lawyers listening saying no, no, but I don’t know that I would pay for that or would I pay for computer science? I don’t know. Right. That’s programming. I don’t know. Unless they’re going to teach them how to really big, really build really big complex issues.

Krystal Popov:

But the skills that they need are seeing a need, creating a solution, innovating, right. Real true innovation. And then sales, knowing the psychology of sales and communication, those are the areas that your kids need to get really good at. And, and, and then the big one is the confidence to step out and do it then, you know.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. No, exactly. Right. I mean, you know, it’s almost an argument to be made that it’s, it’s a good idea for people to be studying history and the humanities and civics and all these things because that’s where so many of the ideas spring from. I remember, you know, in my teenage years my big goal was to be a journalist, which I became an award-winning journalist. But I didn’t study journalism; I studied economics and political science and history. So, I understood the world and what I’d be writing about, you know, so, you know, that’s, you know, it’s interesting because you can study entrepreneurship and you can know all the mechanics, but where, where are the ideas? Where is the knowledge or the spark or the creativity coming from?

Krystal Popov:

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, I don’t know, I could go off of, you know, a little bit spiritual path, but I think it’s the, it’s the marrying of research and getting quiet Right. So, the two things, if you can research, we have research at our fingertips. You know, what happened 100 years ago when they were, you know, inventing. They didn’t have enough food, and they need to fill the need. What did they do? Right. So, but then you’ve got to really, really sit with it for a while.

Krystal Popov:

So, getting and, and getting not caught up in the outcome of I need to be successful. Getting caught up in the outcome of I want people to love what I have because it’s helping them, could be helping them with a day in their life, you know, something that’s hard for them to do and I’m helping them do it. Your son is helping people that don’t have, maybe are, are introverted. You know, a lot of animal lovers that are home with their animals, they, they buy, they get animals to have a friend, you know, and so maybe these people are, are, are really wanting in their life and that we all need true connection in our life. Right. He’s finding that like need of this true connection and creating a modern way to do it. And I don’t think you can teach that. I think you have to feel it, and you got to be quiet and see what comes up and then you’ve got to have the confidence and grit to go after it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, it’s, it’s really a mix of lived experience and, and yeah, just like those natural things that lead to entrepreneurial success is curiosity, right, the grit that you were talking about, the growing confidence, the ability to, to take failure as feedback and, but also that inspiration like, and knowing yourself, knowing your unique abilities and it helps you, just the act of entrepreneuring helps you discover all those things. What did Teddy Roosevelt say? You got to be in the arena, you know. I think what you’re doing is amazing. So inspirational.

Melinda Wittstock:

We haven’t even really talked about whole entrepreneurial career, you know, apart from the fact that you have a number of businesses all at the same time and you created, how many businesses did you have, you created over the years, four businesses by the age of 39?

Krystal Popov:

Yeah, I mean I probably did. I opened six businesses in gosh, an eight-year time frame. And I actually just turned over a business yesterday. So, I’m down to three. Some of them failed. But because of that year of failure, I would have never had the next one that was super successful.

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly. Mine have been like that too. I’ve had successes. I’ve had other ones where the timing was just wrong. 

Krystal Popov:

Yep. I’m getting ready to do a development here in Tucson. We’ve got this piece of land, my mom’s, our family’s owned it for a really long time, but no one’s doing anything with it. So, I’m getting ready to do a development on it. And it’s something I’ve never done before, like from the ground up development. I’m very excited about that. But it all takes like my superpower is the feel fear of failure is just not in me. I just don’t care about the massive success as I more care about seeing it through and pivoting and the, the sexiness feels about business is being able to pivot and figure it out.

Krystal Popov:

Right. So, okay, I’m hitting a roadblock here. I’m hitting roadblock here. But I know that I can pivot and figure it out.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right.

Krystal Popov:

Or you know, I just learned this one the hard way. But when to let that one go, chase a different one. But just knowing that if you keep going and keep trying and keep going, you will have. We have the most buying vacation rentals that I never thought we could ever afford. And it just comes with just trying and going after with everything you’ve got and not letting anyone knock you down, not letting social media not knock you down, not letting your friends knock you down. Your kids are going to see it from you, but you’ve got to walk them through it. So be hands on parents with your kids and just spend the time, spend the time to have the conversations.

Krystal Popov:

We have such busy lives, especially entrepreneur parents. We have such busy lives. But you take three hours a week and you help them build something and it’ll change your relationship and it’ll change their future. It’s super important.

Melinda Wittstock:

Wonderful. And so, the best way to find you Krystal is just to go to futurepreneur.com if you’re a parent listening to this or an entrepreneurial parent more like. And then you can also get kids empowerment pack. Tell us a little bit about that.

Krystal Popov:

I’m going to actually give you a freebie today. So, it’s really interesting. I did this cohort and I was like, I’m not doing a lemonade stand. Everyone does lemonade stands. But I was like asking these 50 kids, like, what do you want to sign? What do you want to say? And I swear like 10 of them, like I want to open a lemonade stand. So, we created a blueprint for one of our curricula blueprints or, or business plans for kids to open a lemonade stand. But it, it steps through each of the skills to do it rather than just pop and open a, you know, like, really teach them if you’re gonna do a lemonade stand, teach them all about it.

Krystal Popov:

Teach them budgeting, teach it. We’re giving away that for free. So, if you want to go to freekidbiz.com so freekidbiz.com it’s going to take you right to our free lemonade stand blueprint where they can open up a lemonade stand and actually learn something and actually profit from. 

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, that’s wonderful. Well, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Krystal Popov:

Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Krystal Popov is the founder of Futurepreneur, teaching kids essential entrepreneurship skills, including creativity, financial planning, team leadership, marketing, and sales. If you have kids, make sure you pick up Krystal’s free Lemonade Stand Blueprint at freekidbiz.com.

Melinda Wittstock:

Please give the show a 5-star rating and share your reviews on Apple and Spotify—it helps more entrepreneurs like you find the secret sauce to support and grow their businesses.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s it for today’s episode. Head on over to WingsPodcast.com – and subscribe to the show. When you subscribe, you’ll instantly get my special gift, the WINGS Success Formula. Women … Innovating … Networking … Growing …Scaling … IS the WINGS of Inspired Business Formula …for daily success in your business and life. Miss a Wings episode? We’ve got hundreds in the vault, all with actionable advice and epiphanies. Check them out at MelindaWittstock.com or wingspodcast.com. You can also catch me on LinkedIn or Instagram @MelindaAnneWittstock. We also love it when you share your feedback with a 5-star rating and review on Apple, Spotify or wherever else you listen, including Podopolo where you can interact with me and share your favorite clips.